Here in my part of the UK, the sunlight becomes golden and it slants across the sky, throwing long shadows. And early in the morning, the grass is wet and cool and the sky is bright, and those great big fluffy white clouds go sailing past like galleons under full sail. It always reminds me of holidays when I was a kid. We’d go every year to a place on the coast called Camber Sands, and we’d stay in a wooden three-roomed chalet. There was a very long garden, with a wooden gate at the back. And if you went through the gate you’d have sand underfoot and it would only be a short walk up and over the dunes to get to the beach. And when the tide was out, the beach was 400 yards deep - and golden sand all the way. Oh, and the chalet where we stayed was called Veraglad - anyone recognise the name???

Arya, who set up the Fan Forum and Fan Club site, is running a poetry competition. You’ll find out all about it if you go to http://mysticrealms.co.nr/ . There are prizes - a signed book of mine, for one, so do check it out if you’d like to try your luck at being a poet, even if you don’t know it. Sorry, I didn’t mean to write in rhyme, but I find it happens all the time. There you go again, you see - I don’t know what is wrong with me. I’ll start another paragraph, before you all begin to laugh, because my face is blue and orange..there! That’s stopped it - nothing rhymes with orange!

Quite a few of you have been asking whether The Charmed Return will be the final book in the Faerie Path series. Well, at the moment, it does look like it will be. I do have more ideas for Tania and Co but the publishers right now think 6 books is enough. If you’d like to see a 7th, 8th or 9th book, then probably the best way to make it happen is not to ask me - but to go directly to the publishers and demand more Faerie Path books! I think that if enough of you make contact with Harper Collins, you might make a difference…who knows? It might be worth a try.

and now I come to the riddles that I posed as a teaser for The Charmed Return. Well, as I said right at the start, I’m not about to give the whole plot away - but there have been a lot of really smart guesses - I’m very impressed. Liz and Victoria in particular have got a lot of things right, but a few wrong - you’ll just have to decide for yourselves which is which. The only other clue I could give you now…hmmm…let me think. Well, the first 7 people in the Power of Seven were the Princesses - but the second bunch of 7 people in the new Power of Seven are not Tania’s sisters - they’re closer to her than that. As for the rest - well, sorry, but I think you may have to be patient with that!

Warrior Princess book 3 is out in a few weeks - October 26th to be precise. I’m planning on posting some sneak-peek stuff here very soon, so keep your eyes out for that.

And finally? Well, I have mentioned this before, but I’m going to be on an American-based radio show in November - and its a show where people can call in to ask questions or just say hi! In a few weeks, I’ll give you the details of how to listen to this show and how to call them and speak with me. I hope some of you will want to do that.

I think that’s about all the news for now. Happy September!

For anyone not yet in the know, the book is due out towards the end of January 2011. At the end of 2010, I am planning on posting some sneak peeks of the book online, so watch out for them in Nov/Dec.

Meanwhile, I have been asked if I’d be prepared to post some riddles based on the storylines in The Charmed Return.

here are the rules of the following riddles:

There are no rules except for the ones that I make up as I go along. If you work out the whole plot from these riddles and ask me if you have got it right I may say “yes” or I may say “no” or I may say “no comment”. I may give further hints, or suggestions based on questions you ask, but I may not tell the truth, or I may tell the truth, or I may say “no comment”. (I’m not about to give the whole plot away for everyone just because some of you are really really good at this kind of thing.) The riddles are all based on true things in the book - none of the riddles are untrue.

Okay: here goes.

1,2 & 4 are trapped in amber.

3 is no more, alas, but why do birds flock around the Dolorous Tower?

5 arrives, but can 5 really be alive?

6 and a boy appear when they jump through a hoop - but which of 2 boys and how are they here?

7 is half lost, but the Green Girl will help 7 to reunite.

The formula for the return:

TFP (221+4=T)=TLQ (135+11=A)=(181+24=G)=(248+7=F)

The answer is: 4 of 7.

5 of 7 is 50% TA+50%AP. In other words, 1 of 7 and 5 of seven are the same power twice over.

6 of 7 and 7 of 7 are hidden in TCR.

Together these 7 will make a new Power of Seven.

The Solution:

When Brother cries Uncle all evil is done - so why are the horses still galloping from the North, and who is the new Captain of Weir?

And if all is well, what does this mean: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World%27s_End_(Camden)

That’s it.

For those who enjoy this kind of thing, happy puzzling.

The most recent was from Sheridan Fox (Hello Sheridan!). I tried mailing back, but got a “failed” notice - which made me think it was probably time to post about the publication date of The Charmed Return.

So - here goes: The Charmed Return is due to hit the stores on the 25th January 2011.

At some point later this year I will be posting sneak-peeks online here to whet your appetites - so watch this space!

Meanwhile, I know a lot of you are real fans of the Warrior Princess series - so I’d just like to remind you that the 3rd book in the series is due out in October this year - and that I will be posting sneak-peeks in early September, I hope.

I’m on holiday right now, and I only dropped by my computer for a few moments, so that’s about it for now. Oh, except to say I’m really pleased by how many of you people are visiting the Forum site and engaging in conversations about all things Faerie and Warrior Princess.

bye for now - hope everyone is having a great Summer.

The books are also going to be published in America - by Greenwillow (They’re affiliated to Harper Collins who publish Faerie Path and Warrior Princess), but they will have a different series title. In the US the series is going to be called THE SIX CROWNS. If you check out Amazon.com you’ll see that book one “Trundle’s Quest” is due to hit the stores on March 22nd 2011. In America the books will have different covers, so don’t get confused - despite the completely different covers Trundle’s Quest in Sundered Lands and in The Six Crowns is exactly the same book.

Something else you could do if you have time is to check out the brand new website Gary and I have put together for the series here in the UK - www.sunderedlands.co.uk. (You can find it on my “links” page). We’re not sure if there will be a different website for the US version, or what, but I’ll let you know as soon as we do.

Oh, by the way - one thing you will notice in the US version is that I’m called “Allan Jones” - this is because the publishers don’t want to confuse readers of Faerie Path and Warrior Princes by using “Allan Frewin Jones” or “Frewin Jones” - because this new series is very different from those other two series.

I have two copies of the UK version of Trundle’s Quest which I will sign and send to the two first people who ask.

this is the Post Office in Richmond where Tania and Edric tried to discover who had sent Tania her Soul Book.

Here’s the riverside walkway where Tania met her other self “Gracie” with Nanny Perks.

And the next picture is of the gardens that front the apartment where Titania was living - with the block of apartments in the background.

The first one is of the Hampton Court maze.

These other two are of Camden Market, which you will remember from The Lost Queen.

This one shows the “Stable Block” - at the far end is the little cafe where Tania and Jade have a rest, and where Edric turns up unexpectedly.

The other one is the main street - the Magic Shop is on a corner, just behind the photographer.

This is the Mortal World equivalent of the stretch of the River Thames (Tamesis) where Drake brought “Anita” when she first met King Oberon on his Royal Barge. The Royal Barge of Faerie is more impressive than the little boat you can see here, but it’s in the same place.

This is part of the Royal Gardens, facing North. Just out of sight to the right is the Brown Tower - the Faerie equivalent of Anita Palmer’s London bedroom.

This is another view of the Royal Gardens, this time facing South towards the Royal Apartments.

More Gardens with a gatehouse in the background.

I was asked if I had any pictures of the maze,

but unfortunately the maze just looks like a giant hedge from ground-level - and I didn’t manage to take a picture from above.

If I get time, I’ll post some more photos in a day or two.

This is one of the main entrances into the Tudor part of the palace - I think you’d probably get to the Great Hall of Faerie if you went through those gates.

This next one is an internal gatehouse - it may well lead to Eden’s tower, if I remember correctly.

Remember the scene in the Immortal Realm where Tania goes to find Edric and he tells her he’s going to Weir to speak with Lord Aldritch? Well, this is pretty much the modern equivalent of where it happened. Imagine a stone bridge.

I’ll post a few more tomorrow.

Fortunately, I had more or less finished.

Claudia took a series of pictures of Siouxsie digging into my dinner - and another few of her on her armchair a little while later, licking her paws in a very satisfied fashion. As you can see!

A little while earlier, Siouxsie had been tucking into a bowl of grated parmesan cheese. That cat will eat anything - except ordinary cat food.

I do have a few things to tell you. Last week Claudia and I went to see the Mozart Opera “The Marriage of Figaro” at the Royal Opera House. The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, is one of the most prestigious cultural venues in the world, so its really something to actually go there. Its an amazing place. We had “champagne tickets” - Claudia bought them for me for my birthday. They were excellent tickets and we had seats in the stalls, in row G, right near the front.  Some people dressed up for the event in tuxedos and evening gowns (despite the fact that it started at 6pm and it was broad daylight out there!). But other people turned up in jeans and t-shirts. We were somewhere in between and we arrived early and had a couple of glasses of champagne while we watched the other people arriving. Claudia used to work in the fashion industry, so she spent the time making really funny remarks about the curious and bizarre clothes some of the people were wearing. (I know - not very kind to make fun - but we did it very quietly, so they didn’t know!) It was a really marvellous performance - the scenery was excellent and all the singers were world-class! I had a really great time - even though Mozart is not my all-time favourite Opera composer. My favourite is Richard Wagner, and my favourite Operas are his Ring Trilogy, which are based on old Norse Legends and are full of goblins and dragons and giants and Norse gods and magic swords and excellent fantasy stuff like that.

Another thing that has happened recently is that an American radio show host has asked me if I’d like to take part in an hour-long interview on his show - which includes dial-in questions from fans. I’ve agreed to do this - and I hope that some of you might be up for calling in and asking me questions. Does that seem like a good idea? The show isn ‘t till later in the year, and I’ll of course give you more details closer to the time, but I thought you might like to know that you could have the opportunity to actually talk to me. Anyone interested in doing that?

Next, I have been approached by the editor of a “steampunk” book anthology, asking if I would be willing to write a story for a new book of short stories all based in a steampunk world and all kind of fantasy/romances. I said yes, because I already have a short story idea that would fit really well. For those of you who have never heard of steampunk, it’s set mostly in a kind of Victorian world, only with inventions that never really existed - like computers, and steam powered submarines and airships - a bit like the League of Extraordinary Gentleman movie, if you have ever seen that. I thought it would be fun to write something like that! I need to submit the story by October this year - and as with the radio show, I’ll give you a better idea of it all nearer to the publication date.

We are also only two weeks away from the UK publication of the first Sundered Lands book. Gary Chalk and I have been working hard on the website and it’s almost ready to go live. I’ll give you more details soon, and I hope you’ll check it out and let me know what you think. I still don’t have a date for US publication of this series, but as soon as I do…well…you know the rest.

So? What else? We’re having a bit of a heatwave over in the south east of England right now, which makes a change. Siouxsie doesn’t like it too hot and right now she’s sprawled on the carpet down by my left side and - oh! No, she’s just got up and she’s clambered into “her” office chair which is set up alongside mine. Claudia is asleep at the moment and everything is quiet, which is good because I have a big pile of stuff in my in-tray that I need to do.

The fourth Warrior Princess book is with the American Publishers now and it has a provisional title: The Bright Blade. This may change, though.

Bye for now.